Current therapies for intestinal-tract lesions such as carcinomas, inflammatory lesions, obstructing lesions, and vascular lesions, to name several examples, use a surgical incision for exploration of the abdominal cavity, or a surgical incision large enough to accommodate a surgeon's hand in the case of a laparoscopically assisted resection. Many such procedures involve open/endoscopic surgery and are significantly invasive, requiring general anesthesia and hospitalization. Significant trauma to e.g. the pelvic or abdominal region can result.
Existing known devices to perform an anastomosis on e.g. the colon require a surgeon to dissect the diseased portion of the colon, secure the separable ends of the anastomosis device into the healthy portions of the colon with purse string sutures, bring the device ends together, and perform the anastomosis. Such devices are potentially complex to operate and provide other disadvantages. Additionally, many resection and anastomosis procedures potentially cause contamination of e.g. the abdominal cavity. If an intestinal lesion to be resected is cancerous, for example, spillage of cancer cells into the abdominal cavity is extremely disadvantageous. Introduction of bacteria or lumenal contents outside of the colon or other anatomical structure, into the abdominal cavity or other region or organ, also is undesirable.